Rainy Day
by Emilee Crumby
Summary: Jamie's sick and stubborn, also a bit sensitive. no slash, only friendship.
1. Chapter 1

Don't know how many people even watched this show but I was a HUGE fan. If anyone out there knows where I can get the series online you will be in my good graces FOREVER. I could write you anything you like.

Secondly, this story would make a bit more sense, also, if you've seen "A Night to Remember."

Finally, I own nothing. I'm just bored.

*******

"I'm not taking another sick day. Not after what happened last time," Jamie's eyes were stubborn as he ran a tissue under his glowing, red nose.

Catie applied another layer of brown lipstick and tried to look disinterested. "The difference is," she insisted, "this time you're actually sick."

Jamie tossed his head and ran a hand down the back of his neck. "It's just a cold, Catie."

Closing her compact she turned with a glare towards her friend. "Since when do you risk your health for the geek squad? I mean, clearly you feel like shit why bother-" She stopped speaking as Jamie fumbled for a clean tissue just in time to capture a sneeze.

"-Gesundheit, putting yourself through even the smallest discomfort for _them_?" She eyed him as he blew his nose and groaned.

"Besides, Alex isn't going to want you infecting all the other superheroes."

"I won't," said Jamie firmly, sniffling. "I can be discreet." He held up a hand to stop Catie's protest. "They won't even know I'm sick." He concluded his declaration with yet another powerful sneeze. Catie smirked.

"Good luck with that."

********

An hour later Jamie stood under a darkening sky in the parking lot just outside the station doors, giving himself a pep talk. 'It's all a matter of composure', he thought to himself. 'And attitude. Keep up the attitude and no one will see anything else.'

He rubbed a fist under his nose and hunched his shoulders to adopt his characteristic, rebellious teen pose. A moment later a large clap of thunder shocked him into a defensive, half-crouch.

Behind him, laughter broke out.

"Relax Jamie," smiled Tyler walking by, "thunder can't hurt you."

Val clapped him on the shoulder in a teasing sort of comfort while Hank followed behind, scowling.

"Pouring rain always means traffic accidents," he growled as he followed behind the others to start the shift.

'Composure,' thought Jamie. 'Yeah right.'

He waited until everyone was out of earshot before coughing harshly into his elbow. He winced at the pain in his throat but, after testing to make sure his voice was intact, trumped forward into the station.

"Come on, come on in and sit down," Alex hurried the squad through the door, clearly in lecture mode. "Jamie, come on, get the lead out."

The final squad member narrowed his eyes as he stepped, languidly through, to a seat in the back of the room. Brooke raised her eyes to see a revived petulance in Jamie. In recent months, he had seemed to really come into being an EMT and he definitely hadn't rolled his eyes at Alex in at least a few weeks. Today, when Brooke managed to catch his eye and wave, he only half-smiled before slumping down in his seat. 'Looks like the Old Jamie might be back for a visit,' she thought.

"So you've all heard, I'm sure, that the weather service is predicting 5-6 inches of rain," started Alex once everyone's eyes were on him. "You all know what that means."

"Accidents," murmured Hank, thinking back to another high casualty day.

"That's right," Alex paused for effect. "And, of course, getting to those accidents and helping anyone involved is our number one priority. But tonight I have another task for you guys. Brooke?" he called to the back of the room and the girl stood with a stack of papers.

"We're getting inspected tomorrow morning. It's the semi-annual, semi-surprise inspection of the facility, the trucks, and our supplies. This means," she stopped speaking as a muffled sneeze erupted from the back of the room.

All eyes turned on Jamie as a blush spread over his cheeks. "Sorry," he whispered.

"It means," took over Alex with a look of scorn, "that in between calls tonight we have to work our way through this pigsty and make sure it's all up to code."

"I took the liberty of making some lists," Brooke said with a grin as she began to pass out papers.

"Brooke," Tyler muttered. "Always with the lists."

"Remind me to hack her computer later an uninstall Word," Val whispered back.

"I heard that," Brooke declared, thrusting her face in between them. "Which mean you two," she held out a page, "get kitchen and bathroom duty."

Tyler groaned, "Kitchen _and _bathrooms?"

Hank was laughing loudly behind them, tilting back in his chair when Brooke handed him a sheet. "Trucks Hank. Check off this list to make sure they're stocked. And while you're at it, you may as well wash the outside too."

The front legs of his chair came down with a snap. "Man, that's not right," he shook his head disdainfully at the pages.

Another clap of thunder sounded outside everyone turned to as the first sheet of rain began to fall.

"On second thought," said Hank with a smile. "I'll just pull it into the driveway."

"On third thought," said Alex leaning in with a sponge in his hand. "You'll do it right."

Hank took the sponge from his boss and pursed his lips. Now it was Tyler and Val's turn to laugh.

"Hey," chided Alex. "Less laughter, more cleaning. I'll be in my office." He went to leave but paused at the doorway and turned back, a twinkle in his eye. "What say I order pizza in an hour?"

"Now that's what I'm talking about," grinned Tyler as he and Val headed off towards the kitchen.

Jamie was still sitting with his arms folded when Brooke came to assign him a task.

"Storage room," she handed him a small stack. "Do some inventory, do some dusting, and mostly make sure nothing's expired. Inspectors really hate that one."

He stared blankly at the page for a moment, seeming to be lost in thought.

"Hey," Brooke snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. "Earth to Jamie. Are you all right?"

"Huh," he looked up a flashed her a charming smile. "Just peachy. " He waved his list in front of her face. "It's better than bathrooms."

Brooke raised an eyebrow. "Have you been in the storage room lately?"

********


	2. Chapter 2

"This," she said throwing open the door with a flourish, "is the storage room."

A long room with a low ceiling stretched before them. From where Jamie stood, he could hardly see the far end of it. A thick layer of dust coated every surface and a solitary, hanging bulb struggled with a mere forty watts.

"You have got to be kidding me," he said, his mouth hanging slightly open. "Are you sure this isn't a scene from 'Friday the 13th'?"

"I guess if we find a body we'll know for sure," said Brooke cheerfully.

"We?" Jamie looked after her as she began to walk to the length of the room.

"Well you didn't think I was going to make you do this all on your own did you?"

Now Brooke may not have had any medical training but it was really not necessary to tell that something was up with Jamie. He ducked from the room several times and each time he returned his nose was a bit more pink. She could hear him sneezing regularly but he was always out of sight, usually behind a shelf or box, in an obvious effort not to draw attention.

After an hour or so of work, Brooke took a break and chugged down a bit of water. Wordlessly she handed the bottle to Jamie.

He reached his hand to grasp it but then pulled back suddenly. "No thanks. I- uh, I'm not thirsty."

Brooke looked at him strangely. "That's suprising. It's got to be a hundred degrees in here, I'm sweating like a pig."

"Attractive," Jamie joked.

"_You've_ got to be dying, you've got long sleeves."

Jamie looked down, as if surpised. "Oh yeah. No, I'm fine."

She capped the bottle and stared at her friend. "You're acting really weird today Jamie. Are you okay?"

"I'm fi-" he broke away suddenly in a desperate an unprompted sneeze.

"Bless you."

Jamie leaned back against a shelf and groaned lightly, "Thank you." He let his eyes drift closed and rubbed the back of his neck.

Brooke's tone was accusatory. "You are not fine. That's like the twentieth time you've sneezed since we've been down here."

"In case you haven't noticed," said Jamie with a gesture. "It's kind of a dust factory."

"Well why won't you share my water."

"Not thirsty."  
"Why is your jacket still on and all zipped up?"

"Not hot?"

"Why do you keep swallowing and wincing?"

He opened his eyes and stared at her. "What?"

"I can see your atom's apple bob."

He thrust his both hands in front of his neck and sneered. "You're so weird."

"And you, my friend, are sick."

Jamie closed his eyes again but kept his hands up as a shield. "I'm not sick."

With his eyes closed Jamie didn't notice Brooke reach forward and snatch something from his back pocket.

"Hey!," he cried as she triumphantly shoved a bag of cough drops under his nose.

"Well what are these for then?" she asked smugly.

Jamie started to answer but was quickly wreaked by a fit of coughing. His eyes watered and he turned away from Brooke, bending at the waist to cough into a tissue he had pulled from another pocket.

Immediately, Brooke was wrought with guilt and leaned over to rub the small of her friend's back. He pulled away as if being struck, but calmed a moment later.

"Here," Brooke said sorrowfully handing out the packet of cough drops. "These should help."

Still unable to speak, Jamie snatched the bag from her, untwisted a candy, and popped it into his mouth, glaring morosely.

Brooke put her hands on her hips and clucked with pity.

"Now is there something you'd like to tell me?" she asked.

Jamie cleared his throat before answering hoarsely. "I may be coming down with a little cold."

"Ya think?"

"Please don't tell Alex," his eyes were wide and pleading. "I've been covering my mouth and washing my hands, I won't get anyone else sick."

"Jamie," Brooke gave him a beseeching look. "There's more to it than that."

"Please Brooke."

Before the girl could speak another word a siren erupted through the building.

"Jamie, let's go," bellowed Tyler from upstairs.

Jamie's eyes rose to the blinking light by the ceiling.

"That's me," and with that, he skirted off before the discussion could resume.

Brooke shook her head silently as she watched the storage room door slam behind him. 'Stupid boys,' she thought to herself and turned back to the dust-filled room, still waiting to be organized.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

This part gets REALLY corny but then, it was a Disney show. I'm just trying to channel some of that.

********

"Got any twos?"

"Go fish."

Catie reached a slender and manicured hand to the pile of cards. She surveyed her hand and smiled triumphantly before placing down a series of cards. Brooke groaned.

"Should I deal again?" she asked boredly.

Catie rolled her eyes, "Only if we're playing for money this time. I seriously can't play another stupid hand."

"You could always help me out with some cleaning," Brooke suggested.

"As if," returned Catie. "Why aren't you cleaning?"

"Alex went home so I have to be here to answer phones."

"How convenient." Catie grinned and Brooke smiled back.

"Rummy?" she suggested.

"Deal 'em up."

Before she had even finished collecting cards from the last game, Brooke heard a noise at the front door. The pair turned to see the rowdy group of EMTs barrel in.

"Catie," Val said with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"We lost power at our place and I decided to come over and steal some of yours." She indicated a cell phone charging on the kitchen counter. "Besides, I've got that history test tomorrow and it's kinda hard to study in the dark."

"Well don't let me interrupt your _study_ session," teased Val flipping over a couple of playing cards.

"How did the call go?" Brooke interjected and Tyler leaned in to answer.

"Not nearly as bad as it looked. Some kid had gotten side-swiped by a car when she was chasing after her dog."

"Her mother was freaking out but we looked her over and finally got her to 'fess up," Val continued. "It turns out she didn't even get hit, she just fell into a puddle when the car drove by. No scrapes, bruises, nothing. The hardest part was getting the mother to calm down."

Tyler laughed. "Hank pretty much held her in his arms for about twenty minutes."

"What a hero," chided Catie.

Hank pulled of his heavy jacket and smiled. "The real hero of course, was Jamie. He's the one that found the dog."

"HAI-chew!"

The foursome turned to see a dripping wet Jamie framed in the doorway of the common room. Catie looked conerned while Brooke had to put her lips to keep from laughing. Tyler and Hank were less successful and snickers escaped.

"Where was it? At the bottom of a pool?"

"Very funny," Jamie sniffled and rubbed the back of his nose with a sodden sleeve. Catie stood and walked quickly to his side, reaching out his hand in a gesture of comfort.

"Poor thing," she murmured.

He whipped his arm from her touch with a look that was a cross between anger and hurt. "I'm fine," he growled, dropping his bag onto a chair and flocking from the room.

The remainder of the EMTs quickly lost their battle not to laugh and giggles erupted. Catie turned an angry face on the group.

"You guys are so dense sometimes." The laughter stopped while they began to listen. "You guys don't know how important this all is to him. Even when he's sick he doesn't want to let you guys down. You could try being a little sensitive."

With that final declaration she stormed from the room after her friend. An akward silence permeated behind her departure.

"Anyone else feel like a complete jerk?" asked Tyler finally.

*******

Catie stomped through the dark halls, still heated, for a few minutes before she found Jamie. He was on the floor of Alex's empty office, back slumped against the wall. His eyes watered and he held his hands before his face in a typical pre-sneeze motion.

"Jamie," began Catie in an apologetic tone. He interrupted her by holding a finger before his face. She took a step closer as he pitched forward in a violent sneeze, followed by another and another. Catie waited patiently for this fit to finish and after a final "Hi-shew!," Jamie sniffled and lowered his hands.

"Gesundheit," she said, sliding onto the floor beside him.

"Thank you."

Another moment passed while Jamie seemed to be searching for words.

"You ever get that feeling that you can't do anything right?"

"Are you kidding?" Catie broke into a grin. "Only always."

Jamie nodded sullenly and Catie took his hand, forcing his eyes to meet hers.

"But you," she said, "You should never feel that way. You're doing a good thing here, you know? Even when I give you a hard time or they tease you, you keep doing it."

A crooked smile crept back onto Jamie's face.

"Thanks," he said.

"Jamie?" Val's sweet voice floated into the office.

He looked up to see Val, Tyler, Hank, and Brooke crowded into the doorway. Val pushed through first and extended her arms. "We're sorry."

In one hand she held a box of tissues, in the other towel.

"We were really lucky to have you today," joined Hank handing over a clean and dry uniform.

"And I was so glad to have you downstairs to reach all the high up stuff," said Brooke with a laugh, pulling a blanket over Jamie's shoulders.  
"But Jamie," said Tyler kindly holding a steaming mug in his hands. "If you're not feeling well you can call out. It's okay. Your health is the most important thing."

"You don't have to prove anything to us," said Val with a shake of her head.

Wrapped in a blanket, slowly filling his body with a soothing tea Jamie's breath caught and he smiled. "Thanks guys," he said, biting his lip.

Brooke stepped forward and laid a hand across his arm. "Now you go on home and get some rest," she said kindly. "These guys will be all too willing to help me finish the storage room."

The three looked at each other. Tyler raised his eyebrows.

"We will?"


End file.
